14/08/5-10

During the final watch, Valeyo noticed storm clouds coming from the south, which would hit soon. The group prepared for the day, with Cassini summoning an owl familiar to watch over from above. Over the course of the day it warns him of various things, including more deer, and even a troll wandering near the forest. Most notably, around 4 hours into the travel, Cassini looked through the owls eyes and noticed a small pond ahead, where a humanoid was washing themselves. He also noticed a large snake crawl its way towards the bathing person, unseen. Cassini ordered his familiar to fly at the person, in order to warn them of the danger. He lost connection to the familiar soon after.

The group decided to go help the person and soon heard shouts in multiple languages shouting expletives. They hurried along only to see the person in the mouth of a gargantuan snake. The humanoid bore elvish features, with their skin a tone of grey, but they also had large goat horns. The group rushed to help the person, only to see them thrown into the air and swallowed them. Milivoj smacked his trident, using its magic to stun the serpent and the group finished it off. Soon after the swallowed person crawled out of its mouth.

The person introduced themselves as Stanley and thanked them for their help. He said he would be alright with some rest and walked off to pick up his bow. He asked them where they were going to and said the lake was usually safe, but he must have got unlucky. Normally, he would travel at night, but he needed to gather ingredients for a health emergency with his friend. Valeyo asked where he was from and the man said he had a grotto nearby, which had a connection to the Fey. When asked about the snake, he just said it was a local creature, not Fey in nature. Valeyo asked him if he what sort of elf he was, but Stanley said he was not elf but fey. The first thing that came to the group's mind was a satyr, but he said he wasn't one of them.

Ultimately the group decided to follow him to his grotto and have Otto try to help his friend. Before they left, Valeyo split off and spoke to Axi, who warned him that the man was Shadow fey, as evidenced by their skin. They did also appear to have sensitivity to sunlight and tried to stick to shaded areas when leading the group to their grotto. At around 21:00. the group arrived at Stanley's home. It was a small enclosed area with a full canopy of leaves covering it. A small stream went through the middle. As soon as Stanley entered, he rushed to the prone form of another elf-like creature, who was laying on a mat of leaves. The entire area was like a naturally grown igloo. While Stanley was tending to his friend, Valeyo shared Axi's warning. Shiek wondered if Stanley would have a map of the region, but quickly dismissed it, as he seemed capable of making the vegetation part for them, not needing a map. Otto spoke up about the bow, Stanley had dropped. Carved of dark wood with thorns coming from it and an metal inlay he recognized as Solar Steel. It would be a rare find and a grand prize.

Cassini and Otto approached Stanley's friend and became clear that whatever was afflicting them was not natural, and they might not even make it through the night. Otto tried using Lesser Restoration, but it proved ineffective. Stanley said they had went out during the evening and when they returned, they were sick. Up close, Otto could tell the person looked strikingly similar to Stanley, likely a relative. Soon after Otto's spell, they took a deep breath and colour their fever began to break. Stanley cheered and hugged Otto, before telling him to wait there. A few minutes later, he was back with a lump of wood. He grabbed the side of it and it opened like a chest, containing a number of interesting items. He handed him to container, saying he owed them his life and that of his friend so they could have it all. The items belonged to people who had died near the forest, but giants or otherwise.

The items inside were a pair of boots, a pair of bracers and a platinum hairpin. Stanley said he didn't know what they did, but he had tried the boots and found them sickening. It was getting late, so he offered for them to stay the night and he would guide them to the road in the morning.

The party prepared to rest and attuned to the items. The found that the boots allowed them to burrow underground and gain tremor sense, while the bracers let them absorb the life of a creature they slay. The hair pin didn't require attunement and when Valeyo put it in his hair, it became shinier.

15/08/5-10

While they were resting, Shiek's sleep was interrupted with a weird dream of the Blue Winged Stag, they had seen a few days prior. It was tied down, as an axe was raised high, before coming down on the creature's neck. He then woke up and began rousing the others by making noise. Everyone found themselves woken up, only to see Stanley drawing the bow at Shiek. Shiek quickly explained what his vision had seen and the group began casting spells to get some information. Valeyo asked Stanley what he knew of the stag, but his information was limited. It travelled the whole valley, as did the giant hunters. Of the giants, he had seen the most of hill and stone, though frost and fire could be seen occasionally, as well. In his 80 years living here, he had on one occasion, spotted a Cloud Giant, who had come down to hunt.

Cassini's Augury revealed that the group could leave in a couple of hours and still find the Stag on time, so the group finished their rest and prepared for tracking down the stag and the giants. With Stanley's instructions, it was easier to navigate the forest, but even still, it seemed as if the forest itself aimed to guide them in a direction of its choosing. Sapphira was able to avoid falling for this trap, and after a couple of hours, Cassini could see a large pillar of smoke coming from the north side of the valley.

They kept of the pace, until they could see another group of 4-5 hill giants staggering their way towards the fire, as well. Luckily they moved exceedingly slowly and the party soon overtook them from a distance. Once they were close enough to the fire, Otto used locate creature to find the Blue Stag and the spell confirmed that it is in fact at the same location as the fire. Cassini sent his owl to scout ahead and it returned with a report of two giants and a third colder giant, as well as a pig followed by the idea of a thunderstorm, then it showed him the image of a stag, a bird a snare and a large fire. Finally there was the image of a large walking human.

The group made a plan to have Sapphira and Shiek free the stag while the others use an illusion to bait a giant away and hit it separately. When they got close to the clearing, they saw that the Stag's leg is broken and one of its wings is damaged.